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With no medical examiner or pathologist at the top of the state’s food chain, Attala County Coroner Sam Bell asked the Attala County Board of Supervisors to consider hiring Dr. Steve Hayne as the county’s pathologist.

Bell said Hayne had been hired by 38 other counties and he wanted Attala County to be the 39th. He said it would be at no additional cost to the county.

For years, many counties had relied on Dr. Steve Hayne to do autopsies. But in August, Public Safety Commissioner Steve Simpson removed Hayne from a list of approved pathologists.

The state has contracted with Forensic Medical Inc. of Nashville to conduct autopsies here. The company is paid $1,000 per autopsy.

Bell said with the Nashville company, there is a three to four month turnaround to getting the autopsies.

The company rotates a pathologist every week to perform autopsies in Mississippi. The pathologist works out of the medical examiner’s office at the state Crime Lab.

Bell added that the company’s reports are also not has extensive as the reports were from Hayne. He said District Attorney Doug Evans’ office was in favor of using Hayne.

I’m sure he is. Hayne’s typical turnaround time on an autopsy report was 6-7 months, though if there was a homicide that might require his testimony, he could get it all done quite a bit more quickly. When he was fired by the state last summer, he had a backlog of 600 cases.

Meanwhile, it’s been more than a year now, and the state still has not hired a state medical examiner, a position that’s required by state law, but has been vacant for 14 years. Oddly, the Clarion-Ledger article states that the state’s coroners and district attorneys thus far have had no complaints about the private firm in Nashville.

This entry was posted
on Monday, May 4th, 2009 at 2:10 pm by Radley Balko
and is filed under Forensics.
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I see that Hayne is also suing the Innocence Project for defamation. Based on the wealth of evidence against Hayne, it sounds like the problem isn’t just with Hayne, it’s with the entire medical licensing community in Mississippi in general.

Unfortunately, I don’t know that the problems can ever be addressed when the system’s broken that high up. I suppose the only real answer is “Don’t choose to live in Mississippi”.

Or not. Hayne is quite simply too useful to too many people with connections around there to ever be out of work for long, much less behind bars for causing more intentional harm than most (all?) serial murderers.

I believe I previously predicted he would be out of work for 5 years tops. And people tell me I’m a pessimist.

I would think that any defense attorney would love to see Hayne’s name on the autopsy report. In fact, I would think that this will mean that Hayne’s qualifications, credentials and history will get replayed at every single trial he ever testifies in again.

Yes, I would think that the DA’s in Mississippi would consider him a ‘poison pill’ at this point.

However, this is Mississippi. Judges will probably just issue orders that none of Hayne’s testimony can be questioned for any reason on penalty of af a contempt charge.

I would think that any defense attorney would love to see Hayne’s name on the autopsy report. In fact, I would think that this will mean that Hayne’s qualifications, credentials and history will get replayed at every single trial he ever testifies in again.

You would think so, but I do believe there has already been at least one case relatively recently where the defense tried to bring up the issue of “holy shit, Hayne got caught on camera deliberately manufacturing evidence in a similar case”, and the judge declared it inadmissible. And then, of course, the poor schmuck was convicted.

//You would think so, but I do believe there has already been at least one case relatively recently where the defense tried to bring up the issue of “holy shit, Hayne got caught on camera deliberately manufacturing evidence in a similar case”, and the judge declared it inadmissible. And then, of course, the poor schmuck was convicted.//

Unfortunately, some judges throw out such evidence not because they don’t think it’s relevant, but because they know full well that it is.

From a procedural standpoint, I could understand the dangers of allowing the defense to ambush the prosecution (introducing evidence which, while possibly phony, the prosecution would be unable to rebut without research) but a legitimate government cannot totally foreclose lines of inquiry which might discredit its witnesses.

This shit is inexcusable. Maybe when the two already exonerated men receive their $50,000 per year for their wrongful incarcerations and Mississippi has to pay out a hefty sum, perhaps then Hayne’s liabilities will be seen to outweigh his “assets” to the state.

…and the ‘bodies’ just keep piling up in the graveyard of America also known as Mississippi.

Adding to those already DEAD bodies will be the INNOCENT ones on death row because of Hayne and West’s corrupt and unethical work and perjury.

And we have the NERVE to call ourselves “CHRISTIANS”. That ain’t the God I worship.

How about it Mississippi? You gonna let DALLAS COUNTY (Dallas DNA) show you up and leave you sittin’ on the potty? C’mon guys, be a BRAVE and HONORABLE PIONEER. Join the 21st century and DO SOMETHING NOW!